Insecurity: Group faults Lamido for criticising Northern govs’ trip to USA

A prominent group in the North, Arewa New Frontiers (ANF), has faulted former Jigawa State Governor, Sule Lamido over criticism of the Northern governors’ trip to the United States Security Summit forum.

Northern governors had recently travelled to the US to attend a peace summit organized by the United States Institute of Peace (USIP).

Sule Lamido, who reacted to the trip, had chided the governors, dismissing their trip as a waste of public funds and an embarrassment to the nation.

Lamido, who incidentally was a former Minister of Foreign Affairs, in a statement titled, “Advancing our shame and embarrassment beyond our frontiers!”, noted that the trip exposed the governors’ ignorance of the country’s constitution.

The former governor said security is solely the responsibility of the federal government because it is on the executive-legislative list.

Addressing journalists in Abuja on Wednesday, National Coordinator of Arewa New Frontiers (ANF), Malam Abubakar Lawal, however, described the position by Sule Lamido as uncharitable.

He said the decision by the governors to embark on the trip was informed by their concern to restore security in the region which he noted was at the mercy of terror gangs and bandits.

Mallam Lawal said all well-meaning Nigerians must join the governors in the onerous task before them to combat the scary security challenges in the North East and North West regions.

He maintained that the choice of the United States was not misplaced as he further submitted that the United States has some of the best security measures across the world and has a long history of helping other nations tackle insecurity effectively with contributions in both intellectual strategies and weapons acquisition.

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He said: “While the ex-Governor is still entitled to his view and has the right of freedom of speech, criticism and expression, we believe this was not the right time to condemn this all-important move by these governors in their mission to salvage the high rate of insecurity that has taken over their states over the years before their elective positions as governors.

“We want to believe the former Governor was attacking the Jigawa state Governor, being his governor, but not the 9 other governors because for us he has misfired. Lamido for the avoidance of doubt should face his travails with the EFCC and allow this new set of digital governors to find solutions to their problems. 

“It is even annoying that a person who has held the Foreign Affairs portfolio under Obasanjo would be denigrating an international fora meant to find solutions to our problems. It is a shame that he has lost touch with reality. How did he know NIPSS and ASCON were not contacted to find solutions to these challenges. He won’t know, because he is an analogue politician.

“Lamido as far as we are concerned is a failure and we won’t hesitate to call on the EFCC to dust his case file. It is a fact that the northern states especially the northwest have of recent been most hit by the dare-devil activities of bandits and terrorists and the need to go as far as China or across the Red Sea to find solution to this blight should be a welcome idea instead of condemnation as no one holds the monopoly to knowledge.”

The Forum aligned with the position of Katsina State Governor, Dikko Radda, one of the governors on the trip, who according to them, “rightly said ‘sharing experiences and ideas on a global scale was crucial in today’s interconnected world.’

“Nobody is an island. This visit we believe would help build the capacity and understanding of these governors on what to do and how to effectively tackle this insecurity menace in a more modernized form with new ideas and modern weapons and security strategies that would be alien to the enemies.

“The world is a global village and just as Sule Lamido suggested the governors should have engaged on their visit on how to boost Agriculture, health. Who told him the governors went there for security issues only? He will never know because his mindset was just to be relevant for some days.”

While asking the public to ignore the critics of the 10 Northern governors, the group said “we believe there is no valuable time wasted in running a state as long as the assignment embarked upon has to do with securing one’s state from bandits and blood baths and other security challenges. “

“In conclusion, we believe the governors deserve more support and encouragement to go as far as America and any other country under the sun to seek and find lasting solutions to the alarming insecurity across the north and the daily killings and bloodbath overloading the regions for more than a decade now.”